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Stores Prepare for Shopping Weekend

Those looking to score discounts and deals for holiday shopping have plenty of options as retailers across the nation open earlier and have bigger sales on Black Friday, the notorious Friday after Thanksgiving. But scoring deals on what is deemed the biggest shopping day of the year often requires camping out and rising before the sun.

Area shoppers won’t have to get up too early next weekend to take part in the weekend sales. Valley City is known for its small “mom and pop shops,” and several of those businesses are encouraging their customers to shop local and shop small by offering some of the same discounts offered by national chains. But, unlike those stores, Valley City businesses don’t plan to open too early.

Most stores will open at regular hours but shoppers can expect to see specials.

Family Dollar is starting early as their sale will begin on Thanksgiving. Family Dollar employees say that they’ll be open for anyone who needs any last minute items, but they’ll also have a huge blowout on toys and holiday decor.

Thursday’s the big sale, they said, but discounts will continue into the weekend.

“We’ll be there for you,” the store said. “But expect some lines.”
Because Valley City is a smaller community, employees say, “We know everybody, so customers can request things, and we usually get back to them.”

Shopko Hometown is also open Thanksgiving Day from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Assistant manager Sue Martin said the store will have different sales for each day of the weekend.

Thanksgiving Day’s sale will feature 50 early door-busters, with sales on items in each department.

The store will re-open early at 5 a.m. Black Friday with another big sale. The store will remain open until 9 p.m. Friday, and another sale will be held Saturday, when the store is open 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
“We’re sure hoping that (shoppers) would give their new Shopko Hometown store a chance and to stop out and see what we have to offer them, because I think they will be pleasantly surprised at the things we have,” Martin said.

Handy Hardware plans to open one hour earlier on Friday at 7 a.m. Manager Joel Gortmaker said customers should be able to get the same great prices and products as elsewhere without having to stand in line for hours.

“If customers have questions on products, there’s a lot more people to explain to customers why one tool is better than the other or answer questions about products,” he said.

Gortmaker said the store will have big blowouts on grills and power tools along with other sales.

The shopping weekend isn’t just for big box stores and chain retailers anymore. Small businesses are starting to get in on the action too.
Recently, American Express launched a campaign to encourage shoppers to support smaller businesses.

The dedicated day called “Small Business Saturday” falls between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, a sale used by dot com businesses, but some area stores are sticking with the traditional Black Friday sale.

Quilted Ceiling in Valley City will have 30 percent off Christmas fabric and giftware on Black Friday only.

“We always say that we have better service than the bigger towns. We want to give the shoppers the same opportunity to do some shopping here as going to other towns — give them a good feeling for staying and shopping here,” said Steve Nielson, owner of Quilted Ceiling.

Central Avenue HealthMart Pharmacy will have 30 percent off giftware and 30 percent off frames with a digital processing purchase.